Pam was sitting on her couch, mindlessly flipping through an art magazine when she heard her cell phone vibrate on the cushion next to her.  She blindly reached over and picked up the phone, flipping it open without checking to see who it was.  She put the phone up to her ear and said hello as she continued to flip through her magazine.

            The second she heard his voice, her hand froze, holding page 49 mid-turn.

            “Uh, hi,” Jim said.

            “Hi.”

            “Hey are you still with your friend?  Am I interrupting you?” Jim asked.

            Pam had to think for a second before responding, “Oh.  No, she just left actually, I’m um, I’m at home now.”

            “Oh ok.”  The line was silent for a few moments before he went on, “So, uh I was wondering, um, well I just, when I got home today from lunch with you, I just noticed that my walls are really white, uh the walls in my apartment are really white and I was thinking, um you said you were painting your apartment or I mean painting your friend’s apartment and I was wondering, uh if you would want to paint ... mine.”

              Pam waited patiently as Jim rambled through his request, he sounds so nervous she thought to herself.  After he had finished, Pam was silent for a moment before answering, “Um, I’m actually pretty bus …”

            Jim interrupted her, “Oh, hey can you hang on a second?”

            Jim interrupted her thoughts, “Pam, are you still there?” he asked.

            “Yeah.” Pam replied sadly.

            “I’m sorry about that.  It was my Mom, she uh, keeps interrupting us.  Sorry.”

            “Your Mom?” Pam asks, the surprise evident in her voice.

            “Yeah, um when she called earlier, when we were at lunch, I invited her over to dinner on Wednesday but she just called to change it to Tuesday. We’ve been playing phone tag, and … yeah you probably don’t care, sorry.”  Jim chuckled nervously, “Anyway, um what do you think?  About the painting I mean.”

            “Your Mom called when we were at lunch?” Pam asked, ignoring Jim’s question.

            “Yeah, sorry about that, I probably shouldn’t have taken the call, I just …”

            “No, that’s fine, I mean, it’s your Mom, you should totally talk to your Mom when she calls.” Pam interrupted.  It was his Mom!  Of course Jim is the type of guy to answer his Mom’s phone calls!  It was his Mom!

            “Yeah.”  After a short pause, “So, um, do you think you could do some painting for me?  I mean I’d pay you.  I just um, I don’t know it seems really … blah in here all of a sudden.  All the white.  I don’t know…”

            Pam was quiet for a second as she thought about what painting Jim’s apartment would entail. Firstly, it would definitely include spending more time with Jim; and while this afternoon was totally awkward, Pam still felt the desire to spend as much time in his presence as possible.  Secondly, she would get to see his new apartment, see where he sleeps, what he eats, …

            “Pam?”

            “Yeah, um, yeah, I could paint for you.”

            “Really?  I mean, ok, cool.”

            “Yeah.  Um, what rooms do you want to paint?  I mean, how big is the space?  Do you have colors picked out?”

            “Um, no.  Well, I think I want the whole thing painted.  So that would be like two bedrooms, two bathrooms, the living/dining room and um … all three kitchens.”

            Pam giggled, “Oh wow, so you found one with three kitchens in Scranton, huh?”

            “Of course!  Geez Beesley, do you really think I could live without three kitchens?”

            “No, I guess not.” Pam replied, a smile on her face, “Ok, so do you have any colors picked out for these three kitchens or are they all going to be the same?”

            “Well, I haven’t given much thought to that yet I guess.  I kind of didn’t even think about painting until I saw that paint in your car today.”

            “Okay, well, it’s going to be sort of hard to paint if you don’t have the colors picked out.”

“Really Beesley, I thought you were a professional.  Can’t you work around that?”

Pam laughed again, smiling at the playful tone in Jim’s voice.  “Sadly, no.  I think you need to pick out the colors first.  When did you want me to come over?  I mean, come over to paint?”

“Oh, well,” Jim let out a nervous chuckle, “I guess I didn’t really think about it.  Um, I guess as soon as you have time.  I mean, whenever works for you.  I still haven’t really unpacked much of anything, so there isn’t anything on the walls, and not a lot of stuff to move around, so I guess, yeah, whenever works for you.”

“Okay.  Well, I don’t really have a lot going on right now.  My schedule is pretty clear, I mean, well, who am I kidding, it’s bare.” Pam said, repeating Jim’s nervous laugh.  “I could start … Monday

“Monday?  Yeah ok.  Yeah, that sounds good.  Like after work?”

“Yeah, that would be ok.”

“Ok, cool.”

“Jim?”

“Yeah?”  his voice sounded softer, almost scared.

“You do realize that this means you will have to pick out the colors by Monday, right?”

Jim let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah, ok, I’ll go tomorrow and get the paint.”

“Ok.”

“Ok.  Um, thanks.”

“Yeah, no problem.”
            “Ok, so, I guess I’ll see you Monday then?”

“Yup.”

“Ok.”

“Ok.”

“Um, bye Pam.”
            “Bye Jim.”